Andrew90

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. Read by Diana Kiesners. It’s a dreary February in post-World War I London when Mrs. Wilkins spots an advertisement in The Times for a small Italian castle for rent in April. She sees another member of her women’s club, Mrs. Arbuthnot, reading the same advertisement and manages to convince her that the two of them should rent it. Both are miserable and lonely in their marriages. They can’t afford the cost of the villa, San Salvatore, on their own and must advertise for two others, eventually recruiting an elderly widow named Mrs. Fisher, and Lady Caroline Dester, a beautiful young socialite desperate to escape from London and society. The four journey to Italy where San Salvatore works its magic separately on each of them, changing their lives in unexpected ways. (Summary by Diana Kiesners)

Brewster's Millions by Winchell Smith; Byron Ongley. Monty Brewster has just inherited a million dollars from the grandfather he has never met. The newly acquired wealth staggers young Monty Brewster, and he is about to launch into his new life when an attorney in the west advises him that his uncle, George Brewster, has left him seven million dollars, contingent upon his getting rid of the million dollars left him by his grandfather. "He mistreated your mother and father and I do not want you to touch a dollar of his money. If you spend the million left to you by him and can, at the end of a year, show by receipts that you have judiciously spent, not squandered this million dollars, my attorneys will turn over to you my worldly possessions, aggregating seven millions. You must own nothing of value at the end of the year.” Can Monty spend a million while getting value for money, and still be left with only the shirt on his back by year’s end? It’s harder than it looks… - Summary by Son of the Exiles

Barks and Purrs, by Colette. Barks and Purrs is a collection of seven episodes in the lives of Toby-Dog, a French Bulldog, and Kiki-the-Demure, a Maltese cat, living in a comfortable household. The episodes cover a hot afternoon, a train ride, and what happened when dinner was late or their mistress was ill. We hear about the first fire in autumn, a heavy storm, and about a visitor in the household. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette-Willy was throughout her life a controversial French novelist. She published around 50 novels; the best known is "Gigi". (Summary by Availle)

This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Read by Mark F. Smith. Amory Blaine grew up in a wealthy family and was given an Ivy League education. Without a need to learn a profession, he chiefly dabbled in literature and partying. His school chums were of similar background, and the ideas they reflected to each other grew in their minds to be of the greatest importance. Amory began to think of himself as somewhat of a character in a Rupert Brooke poem (from which the book's title is taken). World War I intervened in this happy fog and brought focus to some, doubt to others. In the rapidly changing technology of the war era, the financial underpinnings of the Blaine fortune began to fall apart. The deaths of Amory's parents left the finances without a rudder and as Amory's situation deteriorated he came to realize he had only his interest in literature to fall back upon. Meanwhile, a series of young women traipsed through his life, attracted to his handsome face and bright wit like moths to a candle. But Amory could never master the role of being a real person... and, one by one, they traipsed out. This Side of Paradise was F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel and was one of the nation's most popular books in the year it was published. It has some definite parallels with Fitzgerald's own life, and is in some ways an autobiography. (Summary by Mark F. Smith)

A Summer in a Canyon: A California Story by Kate Douglas Wiggin. A group of friends spend a summer camping in a canyon in Southern California. Fun camp adventures, breath-taking scenery, and a little state history and legends too. - Summary by LikeManyWaters

The Mystery of the Yellow Room, by Gaston Leroux. Read by Annise, Stuart Bell, Jc Guan, Ezwa, Simon Larois, Madera, Ted Nugent, O, Lars Rolander, J. M. Smallheer and Gloria Zbilicki. This crime novel was possibly the first to involve a ‘locked room mystery’, in which an attempted murder takes place, but with no obvious way for the perpetrator to have escaped. The author, Gaston Leroux, is better known as the author of The Phantom of the Opera: prepare to feel the hairs standing up on the back of your neck… (Summary by Stuart Bell)

The Autobiography of Methuselah, by John Kendrick Bangs. Read by Matthew Reece. A satirical look at early biblical events from the point of view of someone who was there to witness most of them: the oldest man in recorded history. (Summary by Matthew Reece)

Tales of the Uneasy by Violet Hunt. Read in English by Lisa Reichert. Nine twisty-turny tales of tragic human drama, played out in Victorian parlors, death beds and lonely country roads. This collection of Violet Hunt writings has all the requirements for short story entertainment: flirtatious beauties, mismatched love, ''lung symptoms'', and cruel, cruel fate. Sometimes the horror has a ghostly source, but often the horror is rooted in our very human pathology. - Lisa Reichert

Tolstoy by L. Winstanley. Read in English by Lee Smalley. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is universally regarded as one of the greatest authors in history. This brief biography discusses, among other things, Tolstoy's childhood, married life, contemporaries, travels, and his strongly held opinions concerning religion and class privilege. Individual chapters are devoted to War and Peace and Anna Karenina. The former, with its vivid character portrayals and great historical, political, and military insight, is considered by many to be the world's greatest novel. Another chapter is devoted to Tolstoy's other notable works, and the book concludes with a consideration of his lasting influence. The book, published in 1914, contains a bibliography listing works about and by Tolstoy. L. Winstanley was a lecturer in English at the University College at Wales. --Adapted by Lee Smalley

The Circular Staircase, by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958) was a prolific American writer of popular mysteries. The Circular Staircase was originally published in 1908 and includes all the elements of the classic whodunit – mysterious events, ghostly apparitions, things that go bump in the night and murder. (Summary by J. M. Smallheer)

he Prose Edda (Brodeur Translation) by Snorri Sturluson. (Translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur.) Read in English by Expatriate Also known as the Younger Edda or Snorri's Edda, the Prose Edda is a three-part work composed or at least compiled by thirteenth-century Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson. Along with the Elder or Poetic Edda written by an unknown poet a half-century earlier, the Prose Edda is a major source of much older Norse mythology as it had evolved through the generations. The two Eddas have had a profound effect on European literature in both style and content, not least on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth fantasies. The first part of the Prose Edda is the Gylfaginning (The Tricking of Gylfi), dealing with the creation of the world and the major elements of Norse mythology. The second part, Skáldskaparmál, presented as a dialogue between Ægir, the God of the Sea and Bragi, the God of Poetry, is a fascinating textbook on skaldic poetry, including the uses of alliteration and kennings. The third part, Háttatal, is a trilogy of heroic poetry demonstrating the techniques of Skáldskaparmál (it is not included in this translation because of the translator's conviction that its highly technical nature "forbids" its effective translation into English). Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, translator of Beowulf as well as the Prose Edda, was an intriguing person in his own right, writing pulp fiction along with his masterful scholarly translations and advocating radical political notions during the dangerous McCarthy era. - Summary by Expatriate

Democracy - An American Novel by Henry Adams. Read by Nicholas Clifford. Not until after his death in 1918 was it revealed that Henry Adams was the anonymous author of Democracy, which had been published to great acclaim in 1880. Though the book avoids dates and the characters are fictitious, the setting is no doubt that of Washington in the 1870s, the age of Presidents Grant and Hayes. The young widow, Madeleine Lee, wealthy and independent, is the protagonist, who leaves her New York for Washington to turn her intelligence to politics and to see what makes her country tick. There she meets (among others) Senator Silas P. Ratcliffe of Illinois, one of the most powerful and influential (if somewhat uncultured) men of the capital, who is considering a run for the presidency, and who needs a wife to act as First Lady, a position that (he thinks) Mrs. Lee would admirably fill. Through the book Adams plays with the themes of political necessity, compromise, corruption -- particularly the kind of corporate domination of national politics that he saw becoming all too powerful. Should honest and intelligent men keep their integrity by avoiding politics? Or would that simply mean turning over the governance of the country to power-hungry, scheming, and none too honest hacks? For all the witty conversations in his novel, this was a theme that plagued Adams (a presidential grandson) in life as well as literature, and it is a theme that has by no means disappeared today. (Introduction by Nicholas Clifford)

Bonne-Marie, a Tale of Normandy and Paris by Henry Gréville. (Translated by Mary Neal Sherwood.) Read in English by Susannah Mason; Monika Rolley. Bonne-Marie, Henry Gréville’s last work, will no doubt create a sensation, such is its freshness, beauty, and delicacy. It is the story of a young girl, the daughter of a smuggler in Normandy, on the coast of France. Having been educated in a Convent, at Cherbourg, she returns from school where her father had placed her, and struggles in spite of her discontent to do her duty in her humble home. She turns a deaf ear to a lover’s pleading, and when her father is killed in a fray with the Coast-Guard, she leaves her home and goes to Paris to seek her fortune. The tale of her struggles with poverty, of her debut as a singer in one of the celebrated Cafés – where, after a great success, she loses her heart to an artist, is simply, powerfully and most pathetically told. What happens after we must leave the readers of this charming volume to discover for themselves, all of which is beautifully sketched, and the story from beginning to end is pure, fresh and breezy. Mrs. Sherwood’s English in this translation is beyond all praise – it flows freely on from beginning to end. - Summary by the Publisher

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott. Little Men follows the life of Jo Bhaer and the students who live and learn at the Plumfield Estate School that she runs with her husband, Professor Bhaer. The mischievous children, whom she loves and cares for as her own, learn valuable lessons as they become proper gentlemen and ladies. We also get cameo appearances of almost all the characters found in the previous books, almost all of them happy and well. Meg's older two children, Demi and Daisy, also attend the school and so do Mr. Bhaer's German nephews Franz and Emil. (Summary by wikipedia)

Lord Dunsany (24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957) was a London-born Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist notable for his work in fantasy. He was influenced by Algernon Swinburne, who wrote the line "Time and the Gods are at strife" in his 1866 poem "Hymn to Proserpine", as well as by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. In turn, Dunsany's influence was felt by H. P. Lovecraft and Ursula K. Le Guin. Arthur C. Clarke corresponded with Dunsany between 1944 and 1956. Those letters are collected in the book Arthur C. Clarke & Lord Dunsany: A Correspondence. Time and the Gods, a series of short stories written in a myth-like style, was first published in 1906. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Engaged by W. S. Gilbert. Read in English by Matthew Reece; ToddHW; Alan Mapstone; KHand; Sonia; Craig Franklin; MichaelMaggs; skypigeon; Emmi Kranz; Lydia; Jenn Broda This comedy is by Gilbert on his own without Sullivan. "Listen to me. You love this girl?" "I love her sir, a'most as weel as I love mysel' !" "Then reflect how you are standing in the way of her prosperity." "Sir, I'm puir on pocket, but I've a rich hairt." - Summary From The Play

The Concept of Nature, by Alfred North Whitehead. In The Concept of Nature, Alfred North Whitehead discusses the interrelatedness of time, space, and human perception. The idea of objects as 'occasions of experience', arguments against body-mind duality and the search for an all-encompassing 'philosophy of nature' are examined, with specific reference to contemporary (Einstein, with whose theory of relativity he has some complaints) and ancient (Plato, Aristotle) approaches.

Justice by John Galsworthy. Read in English by Algy Pug; Matthew Reece; Michele Eaton; Alan Mapstone; Larry Wilson; April6090; MichaelMaggs; RHelfmann; ambsweet13; Shawn Clayton; Phil Schempf; David Purdy; Tomas Peter; Andrew Gaunce; ToddHW; Son of the Exiles; Chris Pyle; Adrian Stephens; Karsus A cheque has been issued for nine pounds but someone has changed it to ninety in the hopes of claiming the money. But who is responsible? Will one mans confession bring us to the truth, or is he covering for someone else? (by Michele Eaton)

Odes and Sonnets by Clark Ashton Smith. Read in English by Amy Gramour; Larry Wilson; Anusha Iyer Clark Ashton Smith, nicknamed one of the "big three" of Weird Tales (the famous pulp fiction magazine), was also a romantic-style poet, contributor to the Cthulhu Mythos and a literary friend of H.P Lovecraft. As a poet, he was considered one of the last great West Coast Romantics. Published in 1918, prefaced by his mentor George Sterling and illustrated with Decadent movement-inspired embellishments by Florence Lundborg, this volume contains material republished from his 1912 collection and later included in his 1922 poetry compilation. - Summary by Mary Kay

Seventeen by Booth Tarkington. Read by Jonathan Burchard A Tale of Youth and Summertime and the Baxter Family Especially William (Summary by Wikipedia)

The Death of Ivan Ilyitch, by Leo Tolstoy. Translated by Constance Garnett. Read by Laurie Anne Walden. The Death of Ivan Ilyitch is the story of a socially ambitious middle-aged judge who contracts an unexplained and untreatable illness. As Ivan Ilyitch is forced to face the death he fears, he asks himself whether the life he thought was so correct was, in fact, a moral life after all. Written after Tolstoy's religious conversion, the novella is widely considered to be one of his masterpieces. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)

The Life of Kit Carson by Edward S. Ellis. Read by Laura Victoria. Christopher Carson, or as he was familiarly called, Kit Carson, was a man whose real worth was understood only by those with whom he was associated or who closely studied his character. He was more than hunter, trapper, guide, Indian agent and Colonel in the United States Army....His lot was cast on the extreme western frontier, where, when but a youth, he earned the respect of the tough and frequently lawless men with whom he came in contact. Integrity, bravery, loyalty to friends, marvelous quickness in making right decisions, in crisis of danger, consummate knowledge of woodcraft, a leadership as skilful as it was daring; all these were distinguishing traits in the composition of Carson and were the foundations of the broader fame which he acquired as the friend and invaluable counselor of Fremont, the Pathfinder, in his expeditions across the Rocky Mountains. (Summary from the Introduction)

Firm of Nucingen, by Honoré de Balzac. Read by James E. Carson. Part of the Comedie Humane and a "supplementary" tale to go with Father Goriot and Gobseck. Nucingen is the married family name of one of Father Goriot's daughters. "James Waring" is a pseudonym of Ellen Marriage (Balzac was considered sometimes too racy by the Victorian Age). (Summary by JCarson)

She, by H Rider Haggard. At 5 years old Leo Vincey is left in the care of a Cambridge professor by the name of Horace Holly. His father leaves him a strange casket which he is to open on his 25th Birthday. On opening the Casket Leo and Horace discover the strange history of Leo's ancestors. Leo and his adoptive father Horace must travel all the way to Africa in order to uncover the solve his family's strange history. - Written by Lizzie Driver

Nature, by Ralph Walso Emerson. Nature is a short essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson published anonymously in 1836. It is in this essay that the foundation of transcendentalism is put forth, a belief system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature. Recent advances in zoology, botany, and geology confirmed Emerson's intuitions about the intricate relationships of Nature at large. The publication of Nature is usually taken to be the watershed moment at which transcendentalism became a major cultural movement. Henry David Thoreau had read "Nature" as a senior at Harvard College and took it to heart. It eventually became an essential influence for Thoreau's later writings, including his seminal Walden. (Summary from Wikipedia)